One Night in Chicago
by fanficwriter24601
Summary: Detective Carisi goes to Chicago to attend a funeral. The night before he patronizes a local drinking establishment and runs into some guys from the local fire house.


Of all the places to be, why did it have to be Chicago? More specifically, why did it have to be Chicago in the middle of winter? The frigid wind whipped up and rained down bits of snow and ice on top of Detective Dominic Carisi as he exited the airport terminal.

Pulling up the edges of his collar, Carisi quickly made his way over to the awaiting taxi, all the while lamenting the fact that he was here in the first place. Being Italian, there was little he wouldn't do for his family. In this case, he was here because of family. His mother's cousin, Rita, had moved up here decades ago with her husband and their three kids.

Circumstances being what they were, Carisi had only met them the once. But now that Rita's husband had passed away, tradition dictated that one of his family members needed to attend the funeral. And since his mother had recently sustained a minor foot injury and couldn't travel, it fell to him to be the family representative.

It wasn't long until the cab reached the hotel where the detective was staying. With a heavy sigh, he gathered his belongings and exited the vehicle into the cold winter air once more. The funeral wasn't until the morning so he had plenty of time to get up to his room and rest.

" _Or maybe_ ," he thought to himself, " _I'll go hit up that bar Lieutenant Benson told me about_."

The strings of lights hanging from the rafters gave Molly's an informal and yet hospitable atmosphere. Carisi had just stepped through the doors of the establishment and he could definitely see why it was a popular hangout of the local police and fire departments.

Striding up to the bar, Carisi grabbed a seat and ordered a beer from the slightly older man in a plaid button up. Taking a few sips, the detective relaxed a bit and absent-mindedly listened in on the conversations some of the other patrons were having with the bartender.

"And that's when," said a handsome man, about Carisi's same age, but with bright eyes, prematurely graying hair, and a bit of a gap tooth, "the air got so hot that the fire just leaped across the hallway, completely cutting off our pathway."

"The same thing happened to me back in '93," replied the bartender. "Those flashovers can be a bitch. Lost more that one good firefighter to one of those things."

"But never you Herrmann," a shorter man with a mustache supplied. "You're one of the best."

"Oh shucks," Herrmann replied bashfully, "you're only saying that because you want me to cover your shift."

"No, no," the handsome man added. "Otis is right. You're a real smoke-eater, through and through."

Shaking his head, the bartender caught sight of Carisi looking over at them and asked, "Can I get you another beer, buddy?"

"Oh!" Carisi replied quickly, embarrassed at getting caught eavesdropping, "No thank you. Sorry, I'm good."

"You're not from around here," Otis questioned, "are you?"

"How'd you guess?" The detective replied, knowing his thick accent gave him away. "No, I'm from New York. Only in town for a funeral."

"I'm sorry for your loss," said the other man, "you're welcome to join us if you'd like. I'm Kelly Severide, this is Otis, and my friend behind the bar here is Herrmann."

"I couldn't possibly," said Carisi, "I wouldn't want to impose."

"Not an imposition at all," Severide replied waving him over. "What's your name?"

Giving in, Carisi came over, pleased to have run into someone so friendly.

"Name's Dominic Carisi," he said with a smile, "but my friends call me Sonny."

Hours passed and the detective was definitely drunk. After spending some time talking with the men at the bar, they had good-naturedly bullied Carisi, saying that an Italian from the East coast couldn't hold his liquor better than Russian from Chicago. This led to him and Otis attempting to drink each other under the table. Turns out they were right.

The final straw and been some pale green liqueur made from brandy and herbs, called a chartreuse. He had tried to chug it and had wound up running to the bathroom before he lost it in front of his new friends.

"You okay?" Kelly asked concerned, poking his head into the men's room.

"Yeah," Carisi answered, a little weakly.

"Why don't I take you back to your hotel?" the firefighter questioned.

"No. I'm good. I'll just get an Uber or something."

It was just the two of them in Severide's blue Mustang and Carisi rested his head against the window, looking up and out at the city. The moon and stars shining down serenely on the buildings below.

"Hey," the detective asked, "is that the Ferris wheel Navy Pier?"

Severide bent his head a bit to see lighted amusement ride that soared in the night sky that the other man was looking at, "Yes. Why did you want to go there?"

"No," Carisi replied, pulling his coat around him tighter. "It's late and cold."

"Come on," Kelly pushed. "You said you were only in town for a couple of days. Let's go down and walk around a bit. A bit of fresh air will do you good."

Standing just above the beach, Carisi breathed in the cold crisp air coming off the lake. The firefighter was right, it was making him feel better. A chain roped off the walking path from the water as he and Severide strolled along the pier.

"You said you worked for the Special Victims Unit," Kelly said, "that must be hard."

"It's a lot easier than running into burning buildings," Carisi replied.

"Yeah but someone's got to do it," Severide returned with a smile. "I'm guessing it makes it hard to sleep some nights."

"Isn't that the truth," said Carisi. "Though I guess it would be easier if I had someone to go home to."

"You're kidding," Kelly said in amazement. "A guy like you shouldn't have any problem getting a girl."

"Well…" Carisi was wary about confiding in a man he had only just met but did so anyway. "It's not so much about not being able to get 'a' girl as much as it is getting 'the' girl."

At this Severide stopped and laughed out loud. Shaking his head he asked, "So what's her name?"

"Amanda," Carisi said with a sigh. "We work together and she's smart and driven and … stubborn. We went out of state on a case recently and we were both drunk and I thought… I thought she liked me but… But in the morning it was a different guy coming out of her room and not me."

"Ahhh," Kelly said, "I see. So… um… you haven't told her?"

"Definitely not. But I'm pretty sure she knows."

"And when you're around her, what exactly do you do?"

Unsure of where this line of questioning was going, Carisi asked, "Why do you care?"

"I just hate to see a good man like yourself be unsuccessful. Trust me, I'm the king of getting women into bed."

It was now Carisi's turn to laugh. "Okay, sensei, tell me how it's done."

"First," Severide replied, "you have to play hard to get. And second, make physical contact as frequently as possible. Nothing inappropriate, just things like brushing up against her while exiting the room or taking a hold of her elbow when you want to show her something."

"Not to minimize your expertise," Carisi scoffed, "but I doubt that will work."

"Wait, I can prove it. Let me show you," said Kelly, laughing.

"What?" Caris asked confused. But by this point, Severide and closed the gap between them and gripping the detective's elbow pulled him close. And then Kelly stopped.

The two of them stood like that for a few seconds before Carisi inquired softly, "What are you doing?"

"Playing hard to get," Kelly whispered.

"But I'm not interested in getting you," Carisi blushed but did not move back.

"You say that now but give it a moment and you'll see what I mean."

The two of them waited together.

Being only an inch taller than the firefighter, there wasn't much of a difference between their line of sight. And as Sonny looked in Kelly's eyes, he saw a glimmer of mischievousness. It was stirring some odd notions around in his brain. Carisi wasn't sure if it was that or the inhibition he was feeling because of all the alcohol but without warning, he felt himself close that gap and brush his lips along Kelly's.

Expecting to get punched in the face, Sonny was surprised when Severide opened his mouth allowed the detective to kiss him deeper. Their lips and tongues coming together as they embraced. The mist from their combined breath billowing out into the cold winter night.


End file.
